Aereo’s Barry Diller Lashes Out at Rupert Murdoch

IAC Chairman Barry Diller, speaking at the Milken Global Conference in Beverly HIlls, blasted Aereo critic Rupert Murdoch and talked about what he has in mind for Aereo, Bloomberg reports.

Responding to Murdoch’s complaints about Diller’s Aereo service, Diller said: "I think what they are doing is making a lot of noise in the hopes they will get relief from Congress."

The executive also admitted he screwed up by buying Newsweek “I do not have great expectations,” he said. “I wish I had not brought Newsweek. It was a mistake."

Commenting on what the future holds for Aereo — and for television — Diller said: "The big picture is to change the centricity of what has been closed systems to an open Internet system. The platform allows you to get free over the air broadcasts. If you don’t like cable, paying $150 a month or so for services, if you don’t happen to not live without ESPN, if those are true for you as a consumer, being able to watch all free broadcast, all the events, all of the local television for $8 a month is an alternative."

Diller also talked about whether Aereo plans to create its own channels. "We are not in this that long, a radical revolution,” he said. “We’re only beginning it in video. It started a few years ago. The bandwidth was not enough until a few years ago. The centricities will shift to the Internet. What would you rather have, a satellite connection with a cable box and another box or would you rather have 1 wire that connects you to high-speed bandwidth and able to get the enormous optionality of the internet?"

3 Comments

What universe does Diller live in that doesn’t have 50% or more of the population without the infrastructure to support that kind of internet delivery?
Personally, I’d can’t think of anything less “centristic” than internet delivery of content… with the plethora of propriatory video formats and DMR demanded by content rights owners.
Besides… why should I pay Mr. Diller $8 for something I can get for free.

Those without terrestrial reception but within terrestrial coverage area might be better to invest one to two years’ worth of Aereo subscriptions into a really good terrestrial antenna, which could last them a decade or more.

Those without terrestrial reception but within terrestrial coverage area might be better to invest one to two years’ worth of Aereo subscriptions into a really good terrestrial antenna, which could last them a decade or more.